It’s
Cosmos In Season Opener
May 10th, 2008
(Celebrating 26 Anniversary)- Cosmos cruise to an easy four wicket
victory, in their 2008 season opener, over Mid Island last Sunday
at Floyd Bennett Field, Brooklyn.

Under clear blue
skies and brilliant sunshine Mid Island missed one player, their opening
batsman T. K. Smith. Before the match started, Cosmos and Mid Island
assembled on the pitch to offer a minute of silence for T. K. Smith
who passed away a few weeks ago.

Mid Island's captain, Clem Thompson, won the toss and elected to bat
on good pitch found themselves in some early trouble against the swing
duo of opening bowlers Sham Ali and Haseeb Sheriff whose opening spell
reduced Mid Island to 55 for 3. Jason Williams showed some resistance
with fighting 45, while the veterans E. Thomas and C. Thompson had
a brief outing. Cosmos youth Paceman Dominic Gomes bowled with good
consistency to tighten the screws on Mid Island middle order batsmen
before Rashid Afzal and Ricky Kissoon mopped up the tail with three
wickets each to leave Mid island on 130 all out.

In reply, Cosmos openers Shafeek Shah and Lakeram
Lakshman laid a good foundation with a solid 45 runs partnership.
While Lakshman's patience was unruffled, Shah displayed his usual
aggressive style to set cosmos on course before both fell to two soft
dismissals. . Wayne Stuger on his occasional outing played an experience
knock for 20. A few academic lapses from Rashid Afzal and Shafiq Jadavji
towards the end resulted in another few wickets before Sham and Dominic
sealed a four-wicket victory in the 32 over.

It was a good victory for this Cosmos squad. While
winning is important, Cosmos President Sham Ali stated that 'Cosmos
will remain focus on the values of loyalty, discipline and true sportsmanship
which is most important. Cosmos will provide a scholarship for their
young players who are college bound. That will ensure that the younger
players in both the senior team and the youth team-Cosmos Kings- are
schooled and guided in the right direction, so that they will be able
to appreciate, preserve, and enjoy the values of the game, at least
in Cosmos.'
Cosmos will play Staten Island next Sunday at Floyd Bennett.